Franklin Maitland FCCA is living proof that it’s never too late to take on big challenges in life. At 69, he has just moved his Caribbean-based firm into the international network Kreston Global.
But, Maitland says, he is not so unusual, and is a relative youth in local accounting circles; a former partner reached 75 before stepping down. Maitland puts it down to a Caribbean lifestyle, good nutrition, meditation and staying fit all year round.
‘If you build a reasonably strong foundation, it will serve you well in your latter years’
‘I think our life in the industry is a little longer because it is probably a less stressful environment in the OECS [Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States],’ he says. ‘The story of my life has been to enjoy what I do. I work long hours, totally absorbed. I am still feeling energetic, still looking forward to challenges.
‘I have always held that if you build a reasonably strong foundation, it will serve you well in your latter years.’
Solid foundation
And build a solid foundation he has. The fourth of nine children, Maitland grew up in humble surroundings in Water Works, Castries, on the beautiful island of St Lucia. His father, a building contractor, and mother, a seamstress, worked long hours to provide for their family. Most things were scarce or beyond reach, so his childhood was challenging, but Maitland believes that may have been the catalyst that drove his passion to succeed.
‘My mum was my pillar of support until her passing in April 2020,’ Maitland says, adding that his father planted an early seed by frequently repeating a famous quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “The height by great men reached and kept, were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling up in the night.”
‘The quotation literally shaped the rest of my life,’ he says.
Now based in Saint Kitts and Nevis, Maitland started his working life in accountancy back in 1980 with Peat Marwick Mitchell, now known as KPMG. He was granted a scholarship to complete his studies in accountancy in London, UK, where he completed his ACCA qualification. He then spent eight years with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, and after that a further 12 years with Globe Management Services, where he rose to finance director.
In 2010 he founded his own firm, Maitland Maitland & Associates, which now becomes Kreston Eastern Caribbean.
The accounting, audit and consulting business enters an organisation that boasts 150 firms with 800 offices in 110 countries around the world; Kreston counts 27, 500 professionals under its umbrella.
For Maitland, the decision comes as a result of an unsated desire to develop his business and reach bigger clients. The OECS is a collection of 12 island countries (seven founders and five associate members) covering an area of almost 6,000 square kilometres.
‘What is particularly important to me as an individual is growing with each passing year’
Over the past couple of decades, the islands have negotiated increasing levels of integration including common passports, economic treaties and currency union for some members. All this gives Maitland much to aim at beyond his home island. Retirement is therefore not on his immediate agenda.
‘My experience with being a small firm, is that there are inherent limitations, such as access to training – for example, audit and accounting software’ he says. ‘Certainly the biggest one is that certain-sized clients become out of reach by virtue of your size and the absence of an international connection.’
More resources
But there are also personal reasons for the Kreston move. ‘What is particularly important to me as an individual is growing with each passing month, each passing year. I wanted to have resources so that my staff can grow, not just based on what I can teach them and what we can learn in the local market.’
Kreston membership means Maitland will have to adjust the firm to attract clients from other Caribbean islands, such as Saint Lucia or Antigua and Barbuda. Each has its own economic character, though hospitality is a common factor.
Maitland acknowledges that the challenge will require an increase in staff resources and a substantial business development effort. There will also be a decision to make about whether clients from the other islands are served remotely or with satellite offices; he instinctively feels that the latter route is more likely to see the firm embraced by new clients.
Another frontier Maitland will have to cross is technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI). He is already using AI for some processes and well remembers the dire predictions that accountants would be out of a job when desktop computers first came along. But, having sought the advice of a friend who is a professor of accounting and information systems in the US, he ploughed into research and reading.
‘I always knew what I wanted and I always knew what it took to get there’
AI, he says, will be a ‘useful companion’ to the profession, and has already made ‘quite a difference’ to his working day as he uses it for audit planning and during audit engagements.
‘My next step is to get my staff involved,’ Maitland reflects. ‘Personally, I’m committed to it.’
Structured approach
Maitland’s attitude is drawn from his time at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. There, he learned about the importance of creating a structured environment, the value of networking and having the strength to seek a second opinion, he says. But a special project in his early days at the bank also taught Maitland the value of being ‘thrown in at the deep end’ and, perhaps more importantly, training.
‘At my firm we do regular training,’ he says. ‘I took the discipline of training your staff, being on top of the game, with me beyond the central bank.’
After a long career, Maitland’s enthusiasm appears undimmed and undaunted. His motto, he says, is ‘Life is a struggle; struggle on.’ The secret is having clarity about his ambitions: ‘I always knew what I wanted and I always knew what it took to get there.’ Joining an international network membership was, he adds, something he ‘planned and plotted’.
‘Sacrifices are a part of life, more so of a successful life, Maitland says. ‘I remember working many summers in an upholstery workshop to help meet the costs of my secondary school education. And in London, while pursuing my accounting studies I worked in the advertising department of a national newspaper on Fleet Street. However what I enjoyed most was working on the vast banana plantation of my grand mother with my cousins, in the hills about 15 miles from my home in Castries.
‘The long weeks I spent with my grandmother are irreplaceable, priceless.’
Maitland sees gaining membership of the global accounting network as a milestone along his life’s journey, not a destination. ‘Many opportunities and challenges lie ahead. Far from relaxing, my efforts must be increased,’ he says.
‘I’ve always had this view: God made me, He can impact me, He can probably stop me. Everybody else can slow me, but not stop me. And that’s essentially how I view my life.’
